Sophia Bush has admitted she feels "free," two days after coming out as queer in an emotional essay. The One Tree Hill star ended rumors about her relationship with women's soccer star Ashlyn Harris and confirmed they are very much in love after ending their respective marriages last year.
Now, Sophia has bravely shared that she feels "free and light and scared and trembling and wouldn't change a thing".
The actress made the comments on Instagram after sharing a post by businesswoman and activist Erin Gallagher, who praised Sophia for her decision "to stop living your life for others".
"I've experienced so much safety, respect, and love in the queer community, as an ally all of my life, that, as I came into myself, I already felt it was my home," she wrote for Glamour.
"And I think it’s very easy not to see something that’s been in front of your face for a long time when you'd never looked at it as an option and you had never been looked at as an option."
"I didn't expect to find love in this support system. I don't know how else to say it other than: I didn't see it until I saw it," she added.
In her essay Sophia also brushed off any criticism she has received for her romantic involvement with the retired soccer star after she was labeled a "homewrecker".
"People looking in from the outside weren't privy to just how much time it took, how many painful conversations were had," she explained.
"A lot of effort was made to be graceful with other people's processing, their time and obligations, and their feelings. What felt like seconds after I started to see what was in front of me, the online rumor mill began to spit in the ugliest ways. What I saw was a friend with her big, happy life. And now I know she thought the same thing about me."
Sophia, who also starred in Chicago PD, was married to entrepreneur Grant Hughes for a year before she filed for divorce in August 2023.
Ashlyn filed for divorce in September 2023 after nearly four years of marriage to fellow soccer pro, Ali Krieger, with whom she shares two children, daughter Sloane, three, and son Ocean, one.